Monday, March 02, 2009

It's a comprehensive video of the interview in the studio of nextgen Absolute Radio in the UK. They talk about their long-association as a band, about other bands they admire, about being dads, Bono taking up boxing, and they take a quiz. And they talk about Magnificent off the new album. A must-see!

"Blogging has put me off democracy," says Bono, when asked if he ever goes online to read about the band. That's going on the masthead.

What this shows is that Bono - and Edge - are not Leftists. The problem with President Obama's rhetoric when it comes to "taxing the rich" is that it is playing on a 19th century stereotype that the rich are those industrialists exploiting the workers. That is a stereotype. Bono and Edge do not fit that stereotype.

The fact is, taxes should encourage growth, not cause dependency on the government. The "rich" is a stereotype - and that stereotype can cause more damage to the working people, one by saying that they have no hope for prosperity and two, makes them in fact vulnerable to exploitation - but not by the rich.

The rich are rich because they are smart. If taxes go up, they go where the taxes are low which encourages growth of the economy. You would think that governmental leaders would get it, except that they are trying to bring more money to the government not actually stimulate growth. It's ridiculous!

Bono is a good example, he is in favor of micro-enterprise, not handing out millions to despot governments. He wants to see the local people with a dream get the financing they need to build that dream. That's what he and Edge got from each of their fathers - their fathers gave them financing for one year to start their band, U2. They invested in their sons' big dream - and their sons built on that dream, giving their fathers far more on their initial investment in ways that that they never could have dreamed.

Taxes I think are like Starbucks coffee. You can raise them for a while and the people will not notice. But once they get to a certain place that's too high, the people will go to McDonald's where the coffee is just as good - if not better - but cheaper. And Starbucks goes down the drain.

Just tried posting a comment, but it didn't appear. Bono refuses to admit that he's called a hypocrite, because he and U2 were the driving force behind the new tax plan, they lobbied Irish MP's to not only tax artists, but to raise the taxes on the working poor, middle classes and the more affluent. He did so, because he wanted more Irish tax dollars used to fund his "activism" for aid to Africa, specifically to fund things like experimental AIDS vaccine trials, by corrupt pharmaceutical companies that Bono, U2, Bill Gates and others were heavily invested in. Use tax dollars to fund something, and investors make huge profits.. not the poor in Africa, or the Irish struggling with rising unemployment and poverty, plus huge tax bills paid to the EU, while the EU deprives Irish farmers, fishermen and others of their ability to earn a living.

Bono, the wannabe princeling, finds the fact that the web got the info about his fraud and hypocrisies spread around the world. The fraud, being Bono's investments that he hoped would go sky high, on the backs of the taxpayers, rather like our corrupt bankers and mortgage industries. Bono, Bill Gates and others pushed for a corrupt pharmaceutical company to be able to set up an experimental vaccine trial in poor countries in Africa. African government leaders were paid off to do this. The pharmaceutical company, deliberately, falsely diagnosed people as being infected with HIV/AIDs, injected them with the vaccine and told them they were 100% cured/protected from HIV/AIDs, which was untrue, again, it was an experimental vaccine. The trial was shown to actually increase the spread of HIV/AIDs, in the country, which was a bit of a scandal a few years back. Of course the media hushed up the wider story, and only used the increase diagnoses as a need to further increase spending for HIV/AIDs treatment.

BB - I agree re freedom and I don't love the idea of big taxes or government....but someone said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's"...... hard to justify moving your business away from your home country to avoid tax on that basis, I think.

Also, someone once said, "Do not store up treasure on earth where moth and rust destry"....hard to justify $100m fortunes in the light of those words. Now, I know that nobody is perfect....but those who set themselves up as philanthropists and challenge governments and poor /average individuals to give money might be expected to not accumulate vast personal wealth...and then avoid taxes.

As I say, I know nobody is perfect (including me, everyone reading this and Bono!)....only one person was ever perfect - and Bono's speaking out for the poor should be encouraged as few others really care (even if he speaks out from a tax haven or a private jet)